Terrence Malick never seems too concerned about plot in his films. He's interested in relationships and ideas. We see a budding conflict in the Farmer's invitation to Abby. Should she accept, what will happen to Bill? Why would he want her to stay with the Farmer? Will they stay or will they go? We'll find out tomorrow.
For now I would like you to think about what ideas Malick seems to be addressing in the film What has he emphasized in Linda's narration? What has he emphasized in the film's images? Make a list. We'll use this information to help us figure out the film's big idea tomorrow.
The film's imagery suggests that it is concerned with working life, as we see the farmers working hard on their jobs many times, happiness, as we see many images of people playing and being happy in each other's company, and relationships, as we often see the relationships between our main characters despite their interactions not necessarily being connected to any greater plot. The title and Linda's narration seem to imply that their will be a religious theme, but it hasn't quite shown up yet.
So far, Days of Heaven seems to emphasize hardship, and how the vast majority of people have to work basically until the day they day. We see the seemingly endless fields of wheat they have to harvest. It also seems to emphasize the importance of family and what community you can find to work with, as Abby, Bill, and the narrator stick together. Also, it implies that wealth and the life of ease that we see the farmer has isn’t the answer. He’s only got a year to live and no family or friends, only colleagues. He has all the power and wealth in this area, and yet he is obviously unhappy.
Linda's narration aside from providing a little relationship between the characters offers a little religious imagery. It paints the idea of hell and the apocalypse. And although the hardships of the harvest is not prominent, you see endless landscape of work and work, linking that to the idea of hell. It paints character images as well. The different classes don't seem to be what you would expect. The richer character (the farmer) is going through something worse than any of the poorer workers. A lot of imagery in the first 30 minutes are of traveling. There is the cool shot of everybody on top of the train, showing how they can't even afford a ticket and are desperate for work.
I think the overall emphasis is a just a position of then rich and the poor. We the two poor laborer working as the rich farmer seeks companionship from the women. Which is interesting because you would think that since he has lots of money he would have everything he would want, but he still seems like a lonely character. So I think the overall message is that you don't need everything just a family and someone to care about.
Days of Heaven emphasizes the different social classes of society in this film. You can easily tell that Bill, Abby, Linda and the other shackers don't have much money, so their income depends on the hard tasks. So far, Malik shows the difference between the wealthy and poor and since they are different types of people, he shows the relationship between them; the rich farmer seeks love from a girl who works for him.
I think that the emphasis is on the love and relationship between a young man and his girlfriend. There is a sort of emphasis on the relationship between a boss/supervisor and his workers. There is also an emphasis on solitude, the people in the movie seem to be in a void of nothing but wheat. They are almost in a different society than when they were in the city at the beginning of the movie. The dialogue is short and that, to me, is connected to stoic people and solitary behavior.
The film is essentially about struggle and hardships and how people work through them. Already, there have been many scenes of Bill and Abby working in the wheat fields with few breaks from this general theme. By doing this, Malick is showing us that this work is their whole life at this point in time. Linda's narration lets us see the situation through innocent and naive eyes, yet she has experienced more hardship than most people her age. She repeats what someone once told her about the coming apocalypse and describes how "good people" go to heaven and "bad people" are unheard and un acknowledged by God. It could be argued that Linda, Bill, and Abby are "unheard" in society and maybe they turn to religion to feel important.
I think that the emphasis is on nature, amd how much bigger and more powerful it is than people. This is illustrated through shots of the landscape and the sheer amount of wheat that there is and also by depicting the lone house in the middle of the field to show how much smaller it is than the land. I also thin the narration is important because I think that having a child narrate allows for a different, more innocent view on the world. This will eventually change as the kid matures throughout the story. There is also a reference to reiligion when the child is talking about the earth going up in flames as well as title of the movie.
I think that the focus of the film is the working class. The images shown at the beginning are mainly of working-class people living in not so great conditions. I think the film will talk about how to deal with these hardships. The clip above also shows Bill working hard at his job, which doesn't seem to be easy work. I believe we will see how Bill handles these working conditions. I also think that by having a child narrate the film, we can see these hardships through a younger person's eyes, and see even how a child looks and thinks about these hardships.
Days of Heaven (Part 1)
ReplyDeleteJoanie Dorfman
The film's imagery suggests that it is concerned with working life, as we see the farmers working hard on their jobs many times, happiness, as we see many images of people playing and being happy in each other's company, and relationships, as we often see the relationships between our main characters despite their interactions not necessarily being connected to any greater plot. The title and Linda's narration seem to imply that their will be a religious theme, but it hasn't quite shown up yet.
So far, Days of Heaven seems to emphasize hardship, and how the vast majority of people have to work basically until the day they day. We see the seemingly endless fields of wheat they have to harvest. It also seems to emphasize the importance of family and what community you can find to work with, as Abby, Bill, and the narrator stick together. Also, it implies that wealth and the life of ease that we see the farmer has isn’t the answer. He’s only got a year to live and no family or friends, only colleagues. He has all the power and wealth in this area, and yet he is obviously unhappy.
ReplyDeleteLinda's narration aside from providing a little relationship between the characters offers a little religious imagery. It paints the idea of hell and the apocalypse. And although the hardships of the harvest is not prominent, you see endless landscape of work and work, linking that to the idea of hell. It paints character images as well. The different classes don't seem to be what you would expect. The richer character (the farmer) is going through something worse than any of the poorer workers. A lot of imagery in the first 30 minutes are of traveling. There is the cool shot of everybody on top of the train, showing how they can't even afford a ticket and are desperate for work.
ReplyDeleteI think the overall emphasis is a just a position of then rich and the poor. We the two poor laborer working as the rich farmer seeks companionship from the women. Which is interesting because you would think that since he has lots of money he would have everything he would want, but he still seems like a lonely character. So I think the overall message is that you don't need everything just a family and someone to care about.
ReplyDeleteDays of Heaven emphasizes the different social classes of society in this film. You can easily tell that Bill, Abby, Linda and the other shackers don't have much money, so their income depends on the hard tasks. So far, Malik shows the difference between the wealthy and poor and since they are different types of people, he shows the relationship between them; the rich farmer seeks love from a girl who works for him.
ReplyDeleteI think that the emphasis is on the love and relationship between a young man and his girlfriend. There is a sort of emphasis on the relationship between a boss/supervisor and his workers. There is also an emphasis on solitude, the people in the movie seem to be in a void of nothing but wheat. They are almost in a different society than when they were in the city at the beginning of the movie. The dialogue is short and that, to me, is connected to stoic people and solitary behavior.
ReplyDeleteThe film is essentially about struggle and hardships and how people work through them. Already, there have been many scenes of Bill and Abby working in the wheat fields with few breaks from this general theme. By doing this, Malick is showing us that this work is their whole life at this point in time. Linda's narration lets us see the situation through innocent and naive eyes, yet she has experienced more hardship than most people her age. She repeats what someone once told her about the coming apocalypse and describes how "good people" go to heaven and "bad people" are unheard and un acknowledged by God. It could be argued that Linda, Bill, and Abby are "unheard" in society and maybe they turn to religion to feel important.
ReplyDeleteI think that the emphasis is on nature, amd how much bigger and more powerful it is than people. This is illustrated through shots of the landscape and the sheer amount of wheat that there is and also by depicting the lone house in the middle of the field to show how much smaller it is than the land. I also thin the narration is important because I think that having a child narrate allows for a different, more innocent view on the world. This will eventually change as the kid matures throughout the story. There is also a reference to reiligion when the child is talking about the earth going up in flames as well as title of the movie.
ReplyDeleteI think that the focus of the film is the working class. The images shown at the beginning are mainly of working-class people living in not so great conditions. I think the film will talk about how to deal with these hardships. The clip above also shows Bill working hard at his job, which doesn't seem to be easy work. I believe we will see how Bill handles these working conditions. I also think that by having a child narrate the film, we can see these hardships through a younger person's eyes, and see even how a child looks and thinks about these hardships.
ReplyDelete